American Masters: Cab Calloway: Sketches

Airs Friday, February 7, 2014 at 9 p.m. on KPBSTV

Credit: All Rights Reserved/Artline Films / J.-F. Pitet

Above: Cab Calloway, 1943, The Strand, New York, N.Y.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Explore the life of this pioneering jazz legend who charmed audiences with his bravado and showmanship. A singer, dancer and bandleader, Cab Calloway led one of the most popular African-American big bands during the jazz and swing eras of the 1930s-40s, with Harlem’s famous Cotton Club as his home stage.

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Cab Gives a Tour of Harlem

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In this clip, Cab Calloway gives a tour of historic Harlem Jazz clubs with an animated map. Swing by the Cotton Club, which was home to the Cab Calloway Band, and learn about where the singers and band leaders and dancers went to get the best fried chicken.

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Outtake: Cab Calloway vs. Dizzy Gillespie

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Jazz writer Gary Giddens and jazz critic/cultural historian Stanley Crouch tell one of the great stories about the rivalry between Cab Calloway and Dizzy Gillespie, both eccentric performers in their own right, when Gillespie played trumpet in Calloway’s band.

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Outtake: The Blues Brothers Band Remembers Cab Calloway

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Lou Marini (saxophone), Steve Cropper (guitar), and Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass) tell a story about a time when Cab Calloway sang “Summertime” from "Porgy and Bess" while walking to their respective elevators.